Knights of Pendragon

First series The Knights of Pendragon was Marvel UK's third attempt at producing an American-format 'book length' comic series, following ''Dragon's Claws and Death's Head. Whereas those titles had been science fiction-based action-adventure series, Knights of Pendragon was a highly political and environmental comic, its themes borrowing heavily from British folklore and the growing New Age and neopagan subcultures. Heavy reference was made to Sir Gawain and the Green Knight'', a 14th-century chivalric romance. The series was also influenced by growing coverage of environmental activist groups such as Greenpeace; as a result the comic itself was printed on Scangloss, an environmentally friendly paper stock that used half the trees and minimum whitening bleach. The series was Gary Erskine's first ongoing series, following a short story in Marvel UK's anthology Strip. The series featured extant British-based characters including former Captain Britain supporting character Dai Thomas and Union Jack, a costumed hero originally created by Roy Thomas and Frank Robbins for The Invaders, as well as new creations. It also featured appearances by Captain Britain himself and the Weird Happenings Organisation, both then featuring in the popular American Excalibur series. Promotional adverts featured art by Alan Davis and prominently featured Captain Britain, leading to some complaints when the character's role was more peripheral. Union Jack's costume was redesigned to play down similarities between his costume and apparel worn by right-wing groups such as the National Front. Davis was initially planned to do the series' covers, but after being misinformed about the front page graphic layout withdrew after completing the first five, feeling it was making his work look bad. The series received limited distribution in America. Later issues featured guest appearances by several prominent Marvel superhero characters including Iron Man, the Black Panther, Mister Fantastic and the Invisible Woman. As noted ruefully by the publication's own letters pages, these appearances were not reciprocated by Marvel UK's parent companies beyond a sideways reference in the pages of Excalibur. The series lasted 18 issues – eight more than ''Dragon's Claws and Death's Head'' – before finally being cancelled in December 1991. The rest of the series would be uncollected until 2020, when Marvel issued an oversized omnibus collecting both series of the title. Second series Partway through the first series Paul Neary took over from Ian Rimmer as Marvel UK editorial director (effectively the imprint's editor-in-chief). He planned an aggressive tilt at the lucrative American market, and rapidly commissioned a slew of American-format titles, material from which would be featured in anthology Overkill for the domestic market. John Freeman pitched a follow-up called Armageddon Knights in late 1993, but never received a response; the story, which featured Grace and Union Jack, would have wrapped up loose-ends from the preceding series. Instead, Neary instigated a different revival of Knights of Pendragon, initially called (and occasionally referred to for clarity in later material as) Pendragon II. Neary liked the concept of the original series but felt it had lost focus as it progressed. He commissioned original writers Abnett and Tomlinson to make a sequel that made the theme reborn Arthurian heroes more explicit and consistent, while retaining the ecological themes. The new series began in summer 1992. Erskine was moved over to another new title, Warheads, with Phil Gascoine and Adolfo Buylla the initial art team. The characters were redesigned by Alan Davis to fit the aesthetic Neary was aiming for, while the editor directed the series to tie in with the overarching Mys-Tech plot linking the new Marvel UK series. Like several Marvel UK titles of the period the series crossed over with other Marvel UK titles, including Warheads and ''Death's Head II'', and also featured guest appearances from the parent company's big hitters – with Iron Man in the first four issues, and later Spider-Man. However, like most of the Marvel UK series, the latter went unacknowledged by the American series for the most part, though the characters did feature in a one-off strip in anthology Marvel Comics Presents #122 – written by Skip Dietz and drawn by Hoang Nguyen rather than the usual creative team, and some of the team were used in Davis' take on the Days of Future Past storyline in Excalibur. The series ended abruptly in 1993 after 15 issues after the summer collapse of the comic market led to mass cancellations of Marvel UK titles. Later appearances ==Fictional history==